Bitwise, a U.S. spot Bitcoin ETF issuer, predicted that the combined forces of the cryptocurrency industry and artificial intelligence (AI) could inject $20 trillion into the global GDP by 2030.
The forecast was made at an annual Consensus conference in Austin, where industry leaders gathered to discuss the future of blockchain, regulation, and the vast field of AI.
Bitcoin Mining Meets AI
One of the discussions at the conference revolved around the emerging partnership between Bitcoin mining and AI. The AI boom has propelled companies like Nvidia to the forefront of the tech industry, with the chipmaker's market cap surpassing $3 trillion.
This surge has created demand for data centers and AI chips, with the world's largest cloud companies like Amazon, Google, Meta, and Microsoft projected to spend nearly $200 billion on data center expansions in 2025 alone.
However, the rapid pace of AI development has led to a shortage of data centers, crucial for storing the massive amounts of data driving AI. Bitcoin miners, with their advanced infrastructure designed for high-volume data processing and storage, are uniquely positioned to alleviate this shortage.
This was shown when AI cloud provider CoreWeave offered to acquire Bitcoin miner Core Scientific for $1.6 billion. Core Scientific also announced a $3.5 billion agreement to host CoreWeave's AI services in its data centers over the next 12 years. Other Bitcoin miners, such as Hut 8 and Iris Energy, are following suit with similar AI-hosting initiatives.
PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) estimates that AI and crypto could add $15.7 trillion and $1.8 trillion to the global economy by 2030, respectively. While this sums up to $17.5 trillion, the synergistic effect of their integration could drive this combined value to $20 trillion or beyond.
Future Prospects for AI and Crypto
Beyond immediate applications in data storage and processing, the integration of AI and crypto holds long-term potential in areas like information validation. AI has revolutionized content creation, but it has also raised concerns about authenticity and bias. Public blockchains, which are accessible and transparent, offer a solution by providing a verifiable ledger for digital content.
Startups like Attestiv are leveraging blockchain technology to create digital fingerprints for videos, ensuring their authenticity by comparing them to an original, immutable record. This innovation could extend to various forms of digital content, helping to combat the proliferation of deep fakes and misinformation.
Additionally, the combination of AI assistants with smart contracts and digital currencies like Bitcoin could enhance the functionality of virtual assistants, enabling them to perform complex transactions quickly and securely.